Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 10, 2015

Apr. 23, 2015

European Commission accusations targeting Gazprom's pricing policies have come at time when Russian state-owned energy giant has become vulnerable due to market forces; policies at issue have been used by Kremlin to further political goals, but at same time have made it difficult for company to respond to market pressures; analysts suggest that for time being Pres Vladimir V Putin's political ends will trump Gazprom's profits. MORE

Apr. 23, 2015

Case brought by European antitrust chief Margrethe Vetager against Gazprom will inevitably be test of geopolitical wills between Russia and West, which is illustrated by fact that Gazprom's response casts itself as effectively arm of Russian government; experts believe that European Commission has stronger hand in terms of antitrust law and economic leverage. MORE

Apr. 22, 2015

Greek officials, facing desperate cash shortage, meet with Aleksei B Miller, head of Russian energy giant Gazprom, in what many speculate could be potential multibillion-dollar pipeline deal between countries; meeting comes as Greece tries to negotiate new debt agreement with European creditors, and as European Union considers antitrust charges against Gazprom. MORE

Apr. 21, 2015

European regulators are expected to bring antitrust case against Gazprom; may impose fines and push for changing Russian energy giant's business practices; charges against company, for inflating prices and quashing competition in natural gas markets, may escalate tensions between West and Russia; action will be second major move by European antitrust chief Mararethe Verstager after formal charges against Google. MORE

Feb. 28, 2015

Russian fuel company Gazprom backs off on demands that Ukraine pay for natural gas it is sending to separatist rebels in Donbass region; Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz pays $15 million in hope that gas supply to country will not be cut off before upcoming round of talks. MORE

Feb. 25, 2015

Gazprom chief executive Aleksei B Miller warns Ukraine it could run out of natural gas within two days due to payment disagreement; bitter feud over gas payments has been part of wider political dispute between Russia and Ukraine over past year. MORE

Jan. 22, 2015

Gazprom, Russian state-owned gas company, has made moves suggesting Pres Vladimir V Putin's 2014 declaration that country was giving up natural gas pipeline under Black Sea to Europe and would turn to Turkey instead was in earnest; there had been speculation in West that Putin was bluffing, but Gazprom has signaled that it is intent on new project, dubbed Turkish Stream. MORE

Dec. 30, 2014

Gazprom will buy European partners Wintershall, EDF and Eni out of abandoned South Stream gas pipeline project. MORE

Dec. 24, 2014

Russian government will force five major state-controlled exporters, including energy behemoths Gazprom and Rosneft, to limit their foreign currency holdings to help prop up ruble; controversial move highlights additional leverage available to Russian government as it exercises controlling votes for first time to help combat currency collapse. MORE

Dec. 1, 2014

Protests have arisen in Romania and other Eastern European countries in response to attempts by American oil companies to lease plots of land for shale gas drilling; some suspect that Russian company Gazprom is actually behind protests, as it seeks to prevent countries dependent on Russian natural gas from developing their own alternative supplies of energy, MORE

Nov. 11, 2014

Russian natural gas giant Gazprom signs its second major gas deal with China in 2014; deal for new pipeline gives Russia additional leverage should tensions with West over Ukraine persist. MORE

Aug. 11, 2014

European Union’s languishing antitrust case against Russian gas company Gazprom may underscore reality that natural gas is off the table when it comes to economic sanctions over Ukraine crisis; half of Russian gas sent to Europe goes through Ukraine. MORE

Jul. 23, 2014

Austrian energy company OMV and its chief executive Gerhard Roiss find themselves in difficult position as European Union weighs tougher sanctions against Russia in wake of downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17; OMV had recently signed natural gas pipeline deal with Gazprom; OMV's predicament illustrates difficulties of easing energy chokehold that gives Russia so much leverage in EU. MORE

Jul. 18, 2014

Russia's reliance on Chinese lending to finance its key gas and oil industries will undermine latest round of sanctions that were meant to isolate country's economy; energy giants like Rosneft and Gazprom will still be able to receive gigantic outlays for drilling wells and building pipelines, causing some in Moscow to regard sanctions as symbolic. MORE

Jun. 17, 2014

Russian energy company Gazprom cuts off natural gas supplies to Ukraine, warning that reduction could diminish amount of gas flowing to Europe; cutoff, which further aggravates tense relations between two countries, comes after Ukraine missed deadline to pay nearly $2 billion installment for past gas deliveries. MORE

Jun. 12, 2014

Russia and Ukraine fail to end an acrimonious standoff over price of natural gas supplied by Russian energy giant Gazprom, dashing hopes that election of a new Ukrainian president might ease a dispute that has long poisoned relations between Moscow and Kiev. MORE

Jun. 3, 2014

Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom pushes back by a week its ultimatum to Ukraine to pay in advance for natural gas or face a shutoff; company also lowers its asking price, signaling softening of its stance in the two countries' pipeline politics. MORE

May. 31, 2014

Russia and Ukraine agree on compromise in gas price feud that allows negotiations to resume; European Union's energy commissioner says Ukraine has paid Russia $786 million to cover some of the billions of dollars that gas monopoly Gazprom says it is owed by Ukrainian gas utility Naftogaz. MORE

May. 22, 2014

Russia and China reach agreement on $400 billion natural gas deal, giving Moscow a megamarket for its leading export and linking two major powers that have drawn closer to counter the clout of the United States and Europe; contract between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation runs for 30 years and calls for the construction of pipelines and other infrastructure that will require tens of billions of dollars in investment. MORE

May. 21, 2014

China and Russia fail to reach agreement on natural gas deal between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Company, despite high expectations that mutual political interests would help finally push through the project; price of gas continues to be main concern. MORE

May. 11, 2014

Executives at Russian gas giant Gazprom say Ukraine owes them more than $22 billion, adding economic pressure to the military presence along Ukraine’s eastern border; behind payment demands is a warning that Gazprom will cut off gas supplies to Ukraine, which it has done at least twice before, in 2006 and 2009, over political and financial disputes. MORE

May. 7, 2014

Dmitry V Firtash, one of Ukraine's richest and most secretive businessmen, prepares to fight back against United States bribery charges, saying he is not pro-Russian caricature of corruption that American officials have made him out to be; Firtash is said to have extensive ties to Russian energy giant Gazprom; US hoped arrest would send message to Ukraine's moguls that acting against the West would come with serious repercussions. MORE

May. 5, 2014

Ukraine's effort to establish 'reverse flow' gas imports from Europe has been consistently thwarted by reluctant Slovakia, essential gas corridor between country and continent; plan would allow Ukraine to break free of Russia's state-controlled energy giant Gazprom, which has raised prices and threatened to turn off tap since unrest between two countries began; analysts see Slovakian intransigence as evidence of Gazprom's outsize political influence across Europe. MORE

Apr. 2, 2014

Russian energy company Gazprom increase price it charges for natural gas by 44 percent, raising economic pressures on Ukraine even as American and Russian diplomats work toward settlement; Aleksei B Miller, Gazprom's chief executive, attributes price increase to unpaid debt for gas, making no mention of revolution in Ukraine. MORE

Jul. 5, 2013

Lithiuanian Pres Dalia Grybauskaite, in bid to break stranglehold of Russia's Gazprom, has enthusiastically backed deal to anchor technologically advanced ship off country's coast that could process deliveries of liquefied natural gas into fuel; Gazprom's clout allowed it to charge Lithuanian buyers 15 percent above European average in 2012. MORE

Mar. 20, 2013

Russian energy giant Gazprom quietly offers private bailout plan to Cyrpus that would allow nation to forgo funds from European Union and International Monetary Fund by selling exploration rights to offshore gas deposits in Mediterranean Sea; move highlights Gazprom's role as Russian foreign policy tool. MORE

Sep. 12, 2012

President Vladimir V Putin of Russia issues a decree that effectively prohibits Gazprom, the state natural gas giant, from cooperating with European Union investigators trying to build an antitrust case against it; decree prevents strategically important companies that do business overseas, a category that includes Gazprom, from providing information to foreign regulators without approval from the Kremlin. MORE

Sep. 9, 2012

Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly, signs an accord with the Japanese government to move forward with plans for the construction of a $13 billion natural gas terminal in Vladivostok that would propel Russia's ambitions to multiply its business and trade ties in the Far East. MORE

Aug. 31, 2012

Gazprom officials present conflicting views of whether the Shtokman natural gas project in the Barents Sea is economically viable; field may hold enough gas to meet global demands for a year. MORE

Aug. 25, 2012

Team of marine conservation activists from Greenpeace climb side of Russian oil-drilling platform in the Arctic Ocean to protest Gazprom's drilling efforts; workers spray cold water on them, forcing the protesters to leave after 15 hours. MORE

Jul. 23, 2012

Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom and Italy's oil and gas company Eni plan to start building the South Stream gas pipeline, highlighting the importance of energy cooperation between the two countries. MORE

Jul. 19, 2012

Gazprom has long controlled Russia’s natural gas exports to Europe, but the Kremlin is reportedly allowing Novatek to begin exporting gas to Germany, a shift that once seemed inconceivable; Novatek reaches agreement with Energie Baden-Wurttenberg for the delivery of 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. MORE

Jun. 23, 2012

Gazprom, the Russian natural gas company, reaches a deal with EDF of France to jointly invest in gas-fired power plants in Europe; deal grants Gazprom an important toehold for its exports at a time when competition from shale gas and liquefied natural gas is disrupting its main business. MORE

Nov. 26, 2011

Belarus sells full control of its Yamal-Europe pipeline to Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, in exchange for loans and a discounted price on natural gas; agreement, worth more than $14 billion, ties Belarus into an even tighter union with Moscow. MORE